How to stop the ivory trade

Current Status and Impact

• African elephant populations have been decimated by poaching over the past decade, threatening extinction within decades if the trend continues.
• A single elephant tusk can fetch upwards of $4,000 on the black market.
• Ivory trafficking fuels instability in African nations, contributing to nearly every recent African conflict.

Historical Regulatory Shifts

• In 1989, CITES granted African elephants the highest level of protection, prohibiting all trade and effectively halting poaching across the continent.
• A CITES clause allowed countries with managed populations to downgrade protection, permitting regulated trade of existing stockpiles.
• This "dual listing" policy is identified as the most devastating legislative change, reopening the door to trafficking.
• In 2008, a legal sale of 102 tons of stockpiled ivory raised $15 million for local communities and conservation.
• Following the 2008 sale, undercover investigations by the Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA) recorded a spike in black market activity.
• The 2008 legal sale is assessed to have signaled that ivory trading was permissible again, providing cover for illegal trade due to the difficulty of distinguishing legal stockpiles from poached tusks.

Market Dynamics and Trafficking Routes

• Approximately 70% of the world's ivory is destined for China, where it serves as a symbol of wealth, with carvings fetching hundreds of thousands of dollars.
• EIA investigations in China found that 90% of ivory sold as "legal" originated from the black market.
• The trade is operated by organized criminal networks that fund militant groups, including:
  • The Lord's Resistance Army (Uganda).
  • Boko Haram (Nigeria).
  • Al-Shabaab (Somalia).

Scientific Forensics and Sourcing

• Dr. Sam Wassa developed a DNA mapping technique using elephant dung to identify the origin of specific herds across Africa.
• Cross-referencing seized tusks with DNA databases revealed that virtually 100% of large seizures in the last decade originated from just two hotspots:
  • Savanna ivory from northern Mozambique through Tanzania to southern Kenya (tracking northward over time).
  • Forest elephant ivory from the Tridum.
• Radiocarbon dating and isotope analysis of seized tusks determined that virtually all ivory in recent large seizures was "new ivory" (recently poached).

Market Countermeasures and Price Trends

• Kenya's destruction of over 100 tons of ivory stockpiles contributed to a price drop in ivory from approximately $2,000 per kilo in 2013 to $700–$800 per kilo recently.
• In July 2016, the United States implemented a near-total ban on buying and selling ivory.
• In December 2017, China, the world's largest ivory market, shut down its domestic trade, followed shortly by Hong Kong.
• Britain, currently the world's largest exporter of legal ivory, is consulting on a total ban but has not yet implemented one.
• Closing remaining legal markets is viewed as essential to stifling demand and removing the legal cover currently relied upon by illegal traffickers.